Wrapping and labeling apparatus.



c. M. GREEN. WRAPPING AND LABELING APPARATUS APPUCATION FILED SEPT. I, 19|5- Patented. 0on1, 1918.-

I5 SHE ETS-SHEET l.

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS WITNESSES:

C. M. GREEN.

WRAPPING AND LABELING APPARATUS.

APPLICATIION FILED SEPT. 1, I915.

Patentd 001;.1,1918.

15 SHEETS SHEET 2. Q

Fi g,2.

WITNESSES.-

A TTORNEYEV c. M. GREEN. WRAPPING AND LABELLNG APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPTPI, I9l5- Patented Oct. 1, 1918i 15 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

- WITNESSES.-

- Afromvzm 0. M. GREEN. WRAPPING AND LABELING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION H LED SEPT-1.1915- 9mm 1 9 L 0 w t m M P IVITZVESS Es: 9? mu A TTQRZVEYJ' C. M. GREEN. WRAPPINGVAND LABELING APPARATUQ.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 915.

'Batentd m. 1,1918.

WITNESSES' A TTOR/YEYJ' c.-M. GREEN; WRAP-PING AND-LABELING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I, I9I5.

8. W q 4% 1 12m. i a T 161m. m M mm W 4, 2 MI W! a x 1 P B a $7 1 E N 8 H17 Q W V L, 0.

A T T DRIVE YJ C. M. GREEN.

, WRAPPING ANDLABELING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1.. I915- I Patented 001;. 1, 1918.

'15 SHEETS-SHEET};-

l wmgd WITNE-SSES: Q, 1 INVENTOR;

v BY V .Y

ATTORNEY?- C. M. GREEN: WRAPPING 'AND LABELING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1, 1915.

Patented m 1, m V

'15 SHEETS-SHEET 10.

wman WITNESSES.-

ridwmpzwumviz MW" A TTORNEYA c. M. GREEN; WRAPPING AND'LABEUNG APPARATUS;

APPLICATION FILED SEPTJ, 915.

Patented. Oct. 1; 19.18.

15 SHEETS'SHEET II T, m/ m% WW W WITNESSES.-

ATTORNEYaS WI. .GREEN.. WRAPPING AND LABELl-NG APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED SE-PT. 1, 1915. V l Qfijl Patented. 0st. 1, 19155.

15 SHEETS-SHEET 12.

WITNESSES: 1N VEN TOR.

ATTORNEM mm. GREEN, 'WRAPPING AND LABELING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION men SEPT. '1. 1915.

Piitented Oct. 1, 191%. v

15 'SHEETS-QSHEET 13.

- INVENTOR.

WITNESSES.- v azdywi A more NE ms c. M. GREEN: WRAPPING-AND LABELING APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED SEPT-1| 1915 Patented 00b1, 1918.

.15 SHEETS-SHEET 14;

W'1TNESSE.. S: INVENTOR.

' A TTORNEYJ mas ers.

' cnans M. sauna, or MARBLEHEAD, Massachusetts.-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, CHARLES M. GREEN a citizen of the United States, residing at Marblehead, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Wrapping and Labeling Apparatus, of which the following is a specification. J v

This invention relates to improvements in wrapping and labeling apparatus. It is the object of the invention to provide mechamodity ,nor'to those styles of wrapping.

The particular bars of chocolate which the illustrated apparatus is designed to handle are somewhat in the form of a segment of a cylinder, being round on one sidegunevenly flat on the opposite side, owing to the projection of almonds irregularly therefrom;

and beveled on both ends, at an angle of about 60, so that the flat side of the bar is longer than its rounded side.

"These irregularities of shape, the angles,

and the soft character of the material, make the bar peculiarly difficult to'introduce automatically to wrapping apparatus with resembled in quantity ready to be wrapped that the exercise of human intelligence, and

the human hand, has heretofore been necessary in order to takethem one at a time.

It is among the Ol)]8CtS of the invention to provide means for feeding such .bars' automatically; toarrange them with certainty and regularity, in position for the automatic feeding, in order to do away with Specification of Letters Patent.

l rues m) LABELING arranarus.

Patented @ct. a. rare.

Application and September 1, 1915. Serial No.48,519.

the human handling when has hitherto been indispensable; also to provide a mecha-' .nism that is elastic and automatically adustable to each bar at. all stages of the oporation, in order to enwrap the tinfoil closely about it as would be done by the fingers of a living operator; and yet at the same time to eliminate all human touch, while the bar is being completely incased inits wrapping and labeled; and to carry out these processes at a relatively high speed ,wlthout injury to the material, thus supplanting the services of a considerable number of'peop'le. It is also the object of the invention'to provide the other advantages that are characteristic of the apparatus herein described, further details of which will appear in the description that follows. The principles of the invention may however be applied in a variety of ways other than the specific way here set forth, andit is the ob ect of the patent to cover in the appended claims whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation showing the ma chine as a whole, with parts in their different stages of operation; called herein an end elevation as it i a view endwise of the shaft ing and carriages, although not in a direction in which the carriages move;

Fig. 2 is aplan of one of the carriages;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the carriages in section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4. is an end elevationof the carriage looking in a direction corresponding to that of Fig. l, in section on the lines 4 4: of-Figs. 2 and 3;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the carriage;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a fragment of the carriage showing the tin foil severing knives;

Fig. 7 is a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 7 is a plan of a detail of Fig. 7 on a larger scale, andturned around;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the hopper and attached parts at position 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig.- 9 is an end elevation of the same,

riages;

Fig. 9 is a plan of parts which appear in elevation below it in Fig. 9;

Fig. 10 is an end elevation of the hopper lltl showing the end that is remote from the eye in Figs; 9 and 1;

ing carriage; I

Fig. 11 is a side elevation of the label box and related parts, which is a stationary part of the mechanism seen in Fig. 1; n

. Fig. 12 is an end elevation of the same; Fig. 13 is a plan of the same;

Fig. 14. is an end elevation of pasting mechanism which in Fig. 1 is positioned midway between 7- and 8'; 3

- Fig. 15 is an end elevation of the same,

I pearing beside it in Fig. 18;

Fig. 201-.(on sheetwith Fig. 14) is a side elevation of 3 parts appearing beside it in Fig. 14:; a v

Fig. 21 is a plan showing details of parts of the carriage that "pertain to. the sealing action; said parts being represented as having been turned into their horizontal position, as in the act of sealing;

Fig. 22 is a plan showing the same with the parts turned up vertically, being an edge view thereof;

Fig. 23 isa side elevation showing details of parts appearing above it in Fig. 22;

'Fig. 24 is a plan of the cam plate, on a. reduced :scale;

Fig. 25 is an end elevation of the same;

Fig. 26 is a side elevation of the same, looking in the direction in which the carriages travel on the machine;

Fig. 27 is a plan of the cam bar-s on the same reduced scale;

Fig. 28 is an endelevation of the same;

Fig. 29 is an end elevation of other cam bars on the same reduced scale;

Fig. 30 is a plan of-the same;

Fig. 31 is a plan of thesame in section on the line 3131 of Fig. 29;

Fig. 32 (on sheet with Fig. 12) is a side elevation showing a detail of apparatus on the: carriage for gripping tin foil;

Figs. 32 and 32 show similar elevations, with the same parts in different operating positions;

Fig. 32 is a plan of a detail whose position is seen above it in Fig. 32;

Fig. 32 is an end elevation of the same detail; a r

Fig. 33 is an end elevation showing the latch, a detail on the carriage;

Fig. 34 is a side elevation of the same; Fig. 35 (on sheet with Fig. 13) is an end elevation showing the same parts which are All 11,280,212

seen in Fig. 33 after they have been inverted by further progress of the carriage and showing how the chocolate is leased.

' Fig. 36 is a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 37 is an end elevation showing in detail a part which helps hold the label dow during the folding operation;

held and re- 1 Fig. 38 is a side elevation of the same; and n -ward and rear flaws of the tinfoil over the top of the bar; tuck the tops of the project-. ing ends of the tinfoil down and inward upon the ends of the bar, drawing in the Sides at the same time; fold the remaining end pro ections of tinfoil up smoothly over the beveled ends of the bar and down upon the top' of-the bar; separate a single paper label from the stationary supply O; posi.

tion it. under the wrapped bar; deposita measured amount of paste from the supply P on the leading edge of the label; fold the rear edge of the label over the bar; fold the leading edge over; specially compress the pasted portion of the leading edge upon the folded rear portion; hold it While the pastesets; and then discharge the article and its two wrappers from the machine ready for market.

are the control of the supply of chocolate bars so that, notwithstanding their irregular shape and arrangement in the hopper, the one that is needed for wrapping is precisely positioned for being taken; the holding of the bar positively under control at all times;

the, proper positioning of this bar and the tinfoil wra per with respect to each other;

Incidentally this involves a solution of anumber of problems, among Which the proper iandling of'the two so that the tinfoil is not broken; the provision of severing means which will work for a long period on the metallic foil, without sharpening and with clean-cut execution, without wrinkling the tinfoil; the tucking inof the'ends of the tinfoil as a preliminary step, and the laying of the remainder smooth on end and top as a final step in making a finished inclosure; and the transference of a second wrapper from an overhead supply into a position under the article; thecontrol and measurement of the supply of paste; holding of the first flap against the elasticity of the paper, While the second flap is being folded; and ,other problems the solution of which is found in the mechanism and arrangementdisclosed.

In the machine a conveyor is provided consisting of two parallel and similarly moving endless chains A, which in'the particular machine here illustrated are about I action of the conveyor mechanism is really continuous, each carriage passing at a regular rate progressively from one positldn to another around the circuit, and consequently passingthrough all intervening positions,-

between the particular ones illustrated; and also that in some cases the exigencies of clear illustrations without undue repetition may have led to some slight distortionin the drawing. For example, in Fig. 1, the positions of parts illustrated in difierentfportions of the circuit are shown so as to portray the operations of the parts, using the positions of the carriage'which are nearest to those to the position where the respective operations actually occur, even though the" precise position where the operation occurs may happen to be one of the intervening positions that is not illustrated. In so doing each carriage moves pasta series of cams Figs. 24 to 30, some of which, on bars B, coiiperating with others on bars E, actuate chocolate grippers D which manipulate the chocolate almond bars and-subject them to. the action of other apparatus on the carriage, which is actuated by other cams as the carriage moves onward.

-Each gripper is referred toin general terms by the letter D, which howeverindicates specifically-the head or jaw which engagesthe chocolate. This jaw-is therefore, designed of a shape according to the characteristics of the particular article on which the machine is to work. In the present case vbill it has to work upon a chocolate bar whose end surface, presented toward the'gripper,

retreatsat an a-ngle of about from the vertical. The operating face of the gripper is accordingly made at that angle. For the purposes of the operation of the machine the chocolate bars H are inverted, with that side down which is the top when marketed. This brings the round and shorter side underneath, leaving the longer and roughly flat side ontop asillustrated in Fig. 3. It will therefore be more convenient herein to refer to the flat side as the top of the bar and the round as the bottom, this being their relative position during the greater part of the operations herein described, although this is the reverse of the sides to which the terms top and bottoni refer when the completed bars are put on the market. Looking at Fig. 3 it will be understood that the grip pers, and many other parts, are arranged in duplicate, one acting at each end of the chocolate bar or carriage, but with respect to the chocolate grippers it will be plain from Fig. 3 that if the jaw D at each side of the.

carriage were to move inward toward the centerat the proper elevation the inclined face of each would come into contact with one end of the chocolate bar H resting against and under its undercut inclined end. The grip is made secure by the lip that projects inward at the top of each of the jaws with a slightly inclined under surface.

'Hence a chocolate almond bar may be gripped and'firmly held, as to any up or down motion, by simply setting thetwo grippers D against its ends with suiiicient' firmness. One important feature of the invention, therefore, provides means for projecting the, grippers D simultaneously in- ,ward into contact with the chocolate almond bar, thereby to seize it .and for projecting them outward away from the bar. These movements are controlled by the apparatus shown in detail'in Figs. 2 and 3. As the chocolate bars lie transversely of the machine, these movements are endwise with respect to the bar, but transverse with respect to the machine, the longitudinal direc-' tion of the machine being herein taken to be the direction in which the chains and car- A riages move." The shape of the head carrying the jaws is shown in elevation in Fig. 3

and in plan in Fig 2. The latter of these 1 shows that this head has dimension in the 1 direction of the length of the machineequaling approximately the width of the chocolate bar. In designing a machine this lengthwould naturally be determined by the width of the article that is to be handled, and made sufficient to afford a firm and steady hold upon the end of the article. Each gripper head D is spring mounted on two horizontal guide rods D which slide transversely in and out through bearings in a supporting block D They are normally pressed outward, by springs D into contact with operating levers D which have extended vertical faces 1), against which a knob D on the outside of one of the gripper guiding rods D rubs up and down whenever'its stem R is raised or lowered (see Fig. 5). Thelevers D are mounted on the carriage on vertical pivot pins D and carry upstanding pins D which are adapted to engage the cams D. D and D (Figs. 27, 28).

The

action of each of these cams is to force the pin D inward and thus to swing its lever D inward, forcing the guide rods D and gripper D inward far enough for the grippers to engage the chocolate bar. When the pins reach the ends of either of these pairs of cams D, D, D the spring D forces the parts out again to the positions illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. This in and out movement may occur at whatever elevation the block D may happen to be, whether it be stationary or in motion vertically." Consequently the grippers D are capable of a.

compound motion by which they may rise and reach inward somewhat like a human hand to grip the chocolate bar which is ready waiting in the holder H H deposit the bar upon the cradle block C and then withdraw to the sides of the machine until they are needed for another operation, being meanwhile out of the way of the operation of other parts. In particular, the machine should be designed with the positions of rest of these grippers far enough to the sides to clear the width of tinfoil, thus leaving the clearance in which the first folding operations may be performed without hindrance,

'- Before describing the folding action, it will beclearest to describe the construction and preliminary operations by which the tin foil and the chocolate are assembled together in proper position for the folding.

These include the severing of the tinfoil, the

separation of a single chocolate bar from a number in the hoppergits proper placing to be taken by the chocolate grippers, and the cooperating movements which result in the chocolate and the tinfoil being ultimately 35 found together in proper position.

The tinfoil. strip F- lies continuously in substantially the position shown in Fig. 1, in which position it iscontinuously in motion to the left. The carriage has tinfoil grippers T, one on each side, the gripping ends of which are capable of a compound motion, one aspect of which is suggested by the dotted lines at T in position 1, Fig. 1, and the execution of which motion is more fully shown in Figs. 32, 32 and 32", taken in con nection with the cams T and T shown in Figs. 24 and 25, which cause those motions. The tinfoil grippers are mounted on the leading edge of the carriage plate 0, Figs. 1 and 2, and are adapted to swing upward and outward from the carriage as the place is approached where the tinfoil is. to be gripped and then snapping down upon the top of the tinfoil, moving in so doing from the position of Fig. 32 to that of Fig. 32 and back to that of Fig. 32. This spreads them apart enough to clear the strip of tinfoil F, as the carriage rises under it from positionl to position 2 (Fig. 1), and allows the leading bar T to rise into contact with the underside of the tinfoil strip to serve as a support for the middle part of the strip and as a block or jaw u onfwhich the edges of'the strip are clampe down by the grippers T when they finally reach again the position Lea ers of Fig. 32. This movement'of the tinfoil grippers T is made possible by the construction illustrated in Fig. 32 where it is seen that the upright part of the gripper T is a bar passing down through a slot T in the carriage plate C. This slot holds the gripper steady while it is swinging transversely of the machine on a pin T7 therein that passes through a slot T in the upright. The

upright can therefore move up and down with respect to the pin T and swing in and out while doing so. The cams .T, T Figs. 24:, 26, are fixed in proper position so that as the grippers get near the tinfoil strip the cams T lift the grippers from their position of Fig. 32 to that of Fig. 32"*; and the cains T operating laterally, push their tails inward and so throw the tops outward to the position indicated in Fig. 32*, where the position of a tinfoil gripper is shown after it has cleared the tinfoil strip and the latter is restin on the supporting bar T. An in stant ater the tail of this gripper passes beyond the cams T T and the spring T draws the gripper back down to the position illustrated in Fig. 32, but pressing upon the strip of tinfoil under which the carriage has risen in the meantimeso as to assume the position relative to the strip that is shown in 1 Fig. 32". The strip of tinfoil is thus held and drawn forward with the carriage. When the next following carriage has risen to position 2 and has gripped the portion of tinfoil which. lies over it, the strip is thus 7 held at two places, and is ready for the part lll'lll when they are moving on, a level,th e cut is located just over the forward edge ofthe next succeeding carriage, and in fact, just forward of where the strip is held by thev tinfoil grippers T on that carriage, as seen in Fig. 1. The arran 'ement of the knives is seen in Figs. 2 and 4..-

The moving blades 11 K turn about pivots K, one-at each end of the fixed blade K, when actuated through a system of compound leverage K K best seen in Figs. 6 and 7,.eontrolled by a dog pivoted at K on the underside of the carnage, and having faces K and K". This dog seen in Fig. 7 is capable of swinging between the full line and dotted line positions, thus swin 'ng the horizontal bell crank 1ever- ,-w ch,

swings the upright lever K which in turn throws the knife blade K Pin and slot mascara joints are .used, and the attachment to the like the knife blade K except that the ends of these two blades have complementary and cooperating beveled ends as indicated at K. The cams actuating these knives are 1H) set so that the blade K descends just before the blade K does, and rises just after it; and the bevel K is such that this beveled endof the blade K overlies the end of blade K and thus, in swinging about its to pivot, can reach and cut that portion of the tinfoil resting on the stationary blade K which is not reached by the main cutting edges of the two blades because it lies be tween them. Thus in Fig. 6 dotted arcs indicate the travel of the extreme points of the main edges of the two blades showing that a small portion of tinfoil restingon the edge of the fixed blade K would be uncut thereby, and also showing how the edge I formed on the beveled end of the blade K reaches this and thus severs the tinfoil.

completely. p 7

It is a feature of importance in mechanism operating upon a metallic film such as tinfoil to'have blades that will operate for a long period of time without becoming dull, both because of. the importance of saving the time of sharpening, changing knives, etc., and also because the action of a dull blade is disastrous to the film of tinfoil, wrinkling, distorting and tearing it in such'a manner as to interfere seriously with the perfect execution of the machine. Therefore one feature of the invention is aimed to make the 410 knives automatically sharpen themselves or v at least operate with a sharp clean shearing cut. This is efiected by mounting the blades IQ K somewhat loosely 011 their pivots K and by inserting a small spiral spring K between the head of a pivot K and the blade, tending to force each blade K or K fiat against the, face ofthe fixed blade K. The effect of the spring is, however, influenced by the'presence of a small cam K and by the fact that the blade K is somewhat loose on its pivot K The cam ,K projects from that face of the stationary blade K which is traversed by the blade K or 1 as it swings on its pivot K between the positions illustrated in Fig. 6; and it is located in that direction from the pivot K which is remote from the cutting edges. The face of this cam fixed at a slight incline to the face of the blade K and has the to greater projection at its upper portion, which is toward the cutting edge of that blade. Consequently as seen in lEig. 6,.when the blade K is in the dotted upright position, its spring K holds the blade K subtifi stantially flat against and parallel with the edge by the fact, if such fact exists, that it has become dulled and worn back a little face of blade K, althou h extending pe endicular thereto, but as t e swing of the b ade K progresses toward the full line position K in Fig. 6, the upper, or left-hand, edge of the blade K being what is ordinarily called the back of the blade, rides up on this cam K and is forcedgradually outward away. from the blade K, consequently tipping the whole blade K out of parallelism with the blade K and into a small acute angle there- 75 with so that as the blade K swings downward its edge is pressed against the edge of the blade K, and is not prevented from grinding down in close'proximity to that from the general plane of the face of the blade K (See Fig. 7 This slight angle is maintained as the swing of the blade continues. The spring K in fact holds the 7 blade K parallel to the face of the cam K. At the same time, as the spring K presses on the blade K it acts as the ower on a lever, constituted by the blade K whose fulcrum is the projecting cam K With 910 this cam K as a fulcrum the spring K" pushes the cutting edge of the blade K against the cutting edge of the blade K. As

these cutting edges cross each other, the

ice

of the face of that blade, to what would produce a condition of dullness in an ordinary shears construction. nevertheless in the present apparatus the sharp cutting continues,

because the slight loosencss on the pivot K enables the blade to'tilt, as a result of which the spring K" can push the cutting edge of h directly upagainst the cutting edge of the blade K, enabling the angle to change a little as the point of contact trav' els along. y This action is purely automatic and consequently maintains this part of the machine in effective condition, regardless of the speed and duty of the machine, for a long time before the parts. need to be re- 1 newed or changed; 7

' The described motions of the blades are produced as follows: As each carriage approaches position 1 from the lower level,

swinging upward around the sprocketwheel,

cams K on the cam bar Q, Fig. 29, engage the surfaces K" on the dogs pivoted on the carriage at K. This throws the blades K K into' their dotted positions of Fig. 6, so that asthe carriage proceeds into position 1% 

